Clay Aiken was talented, and You are right to compare him to Barry Manilow. But barry manilow is hardly a platinum selling pop success these days. His style doesn't sell well with the record-buying public, the majority of which are 12-24 year old females.
Hip Hop will not die out. Ever. It is one of the last ways the powers that be have to control our youth. Get them obsessed with glorifying themselves and collecting things, much like that culture does, and they will be too busy worrying about bling bling to realize that they're being denied basic rights.
And just what "basic rights" do you think they are being denied?